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Bonus Features

I really had fun with today’s puzzle, which required some angular thinking. The title “Bonus Features” signaled that something tricky was up, and it started right off the bat with 1 Down. I had filled in FAMER (“Hall-of-___”) at 1 Across; that meant the “President who was not elected” (1 Down) began with an F. I could have entered FORD at that point, but luckily I filled in some crossing words first – and that led to me to think the answer had to be Millard Fillmore. But FILLMORE clearly wasn’t going to fit, unless there was a “bonus feature” I hadn’t yet figured out.

This puzzle required some angular thinking.

Then I noticed my Philly Shout-Out at 65 Across: “College near Philadelphia.” Six squares weren’t enough for any school I could think of – but there was SWARTHMORE, which happened to share the “-more” aspect of FILLMORE. Hmmm. I began to think that “MORE” would be squeezed into one square, but then I realized the word simply turned the corner – my moment of AHA! (“What this puzzle may make you say,” 125 Down).

To put it in TV lingo: BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE! “Infomercial line … with a hint to 10 answers in this puzzle,” 70 Across).

More MOREs Dept.: SOPHOMORE (“Second or tenth, in a way,” 22 Down), MOUNT RUSHMORE (“It’s known for big busts,” 6 Down); BALTIMORE (“Sun spot?” 61 Across); LESS IS MORE (“Minimalist’s philosophy,” 108 Across); TELL ME MORE (“‘Go on …’,” 67 Down); ALUMINUM ORE (“Bauxite, e.g.,” 10 Down); and THAT’S AMORE (“Dean Martin classic,” 110 Across). And, luckily, after getting home from a pathetic Phillies game, I turned on a rerun of “Saturday Night Live” that happened to feature musical guest MACKLEMORE (“White rapper with two #1 hits,” 106 Down), whom I had never heard of and otherwise would have stumped me today.

Cheap! Cheap! Dept.: I’m not going to quibble too much with these answers, but they are borderline: TOASTEE (“The ‘you’ of ‘Here’s to you!’,” 36 Down) and ECOTAGE (“Environmental extremists’ acts,” 34 Down), which I guess is combination of “ecology” and “sabotage.” I’ve heard the term “ecoterrorism,” but not “ecotage.”

Jeopardy Dept.: There seemed to be an unusual number of clues phrased as not-quite questions – and I learned some trivia from them. “Where the Code of Hammurabi is displayed” is the LOUVRE (76 Down). “What the hyphen in an emoticon often represents” is a NOSE (100 Across). “Where the Confederate flag was first flown: Abbr.” is ALA. (75 Across). And “What the winged woman is holding in the Emmy statuette” is apparently an ATOM (41 Down), though I always thought it represented a globe.

Mad Men Dept.: Speaking of statuettes, “Pitching awards” (119 Across) are not Cy Youngs, for baseball, but CLIOS, for advertising.

Hi MaGi … I agree with you on the Greek coin — very obscure. I wrote about it here. The coin is called an “obol,” so the plural is OBOLS. I solved it through crossing words, because I’d never heard of them, either. And for 118 Across, I think the clue is purposely vague because the answer (SOME) is so common. Just a theory. Thanks for writing!

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Solving the Sunday NYT crossword puzzle so you don't have to.

Kathy Matheson has been solving crossword puzzles since junior high, when a friend intent on winning the school's magazine drive gave her a subscription to Games Magazine as a birthday present. (The editor of Games back then? Will Shortz.) Today she lives in her adopted hometown of Philadelphia. Alter ego of @kmatheson

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